Bream Gives Me Hiccups

He stunningly captures what it’s like to be nine years old, which means you feel nine again, too. He points out things that may not have been obvious to an adult’s mind, that will wow you. Although the entire story isn’t about a nine year old complaining, he does have many points about what it’s like to be an adult working in a lawless world. You could hear [Eisenberg’s] own voice as he narrated each person, and that’s what I like to see in stories.
When you can hear the author’s thoughts or their thinking as you’re reading, the novel will come to life, more so than if you couldn’t.

At times, I became a little bored, and wanted to skip over a few of the chapters, because I didn’t quite understand what was going on, but I’m glad I read it.

[Eisenberg’s] novel is hilarious, serious, direct and emotional. That’s why I give Eisenberg’s novel a 1500 out of 2000.

Here’s a sneak peek at Bream Gives me Hiccups:

Last night, Mom took me to Sushi Nozawa, near Matt’s house.
Except she didn’t let Matt come with us and I had to leave in the middle of my favorite show because Mom said we would be late for our reservation and that I didn’t know who she had to blow on to get the reservation.
At the front of Sushi Nozawa is a mean woman. When I asked Mom why the woman is so angry, Mom said it’s because she’s Japanese and that it’s cultural. The woman at school who serves lunch is also mean but she is not Japanese. Maybe it’s just serving food that makes people angry.
Sushi Nozawa does not have any menus, which Mom said made it fancy. The Sushi chef is very serious and he stands behind a counter and serves the people whatever he wants. He is also mean.
The first thing they brought us was a rolled up wet washcloth, which I unrolled and put on my lap because Mom always said that the first thing I have to do in a nice restaurant is put the napkin in my lap. But this napkin was hot and wet and made me feel like I peed my pants. Mom got angry and asked me if I was stupid.
The mean woman then brought a little bowl of mashed up red fish bodies in a brown sauce and said that it was tuna fish, which I guess was a lie because it didn’t taste like tuna and made me want to puke right there at the table. But Mom said that I have to eat it because Sushi Nozawa was “famous for their tuna.” At school, there is a kid named Billy who everyone secretly calls Billy the Bully and who puts toothpaste on the teacher’s chair before she comes into the classroom.
He is also famous.
Mom said they have egg so I asked for two eggs, but when the mean woman brought them, they didn’t look like eggs; they looked like dirty sponges and I spit it out on the table in front of Mom, who slammed her hands on the table and made the plates rattle and so I got scared and spit out more sponge on Mom’s hands and Mom yelled at me in a weird whispery voice, saying that the only reason she took me to the restaurant is so that Dad would pay for it. Then I started crying and little bits of the gross egg came out of my nose with snot and Mom started laughing in a nice way and gave me a hug and told me to be more quiet.